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Have you ever heard of EMOM training?
Actually, back up
Have you ever heard the name Rich Froning?
How about Louie Simmons?
If not, here you go: Rich is the fittest man in history and won the CrossFit Games four times in a row. Louie is, I’ll go ahead and say, the best strength coach in the world and has a gym full of the strongest men in the world.
Want to know what they have in common?
EMOM Training.
EMOM Training is simply performing a set of reps Every Minute on The Minute for a set number of minutes.
NOT to be confused with resting a minute between sets.
In EMOM training you rest the remainder of the minute. So if you did 5 reps in 10 seconds, you can now rest 50 seconds before starting again.
Some people call it EMOTM, but I don’t for the same reason I don’t call the United States of America the USOA
I actually prefer to call it Abbreviated Rest Training (ART).
But here’s the deal
A lot of you have heard of EMOM training, but you are either doing it wrong, or missing the BIG picture of EMOM training.
EMOM Training is not “a tool in the toolboxâ€It’s the jack hammer that will make all your smaller tools feel useless.
Implement EMOM training correctly and you will see massive gains in strength and conditioning.
Let’s begin!
EMOM: Missing the Target
Having exhaustively read every EMOM article on the internet before writing this (quite literally).
I get the general consensus that most coaches and programmers see EMOM training as beneficial, but in my opinion, they treat it as “Cute Trainingâ€.
What is Cute Training?
My first experience with EMOM Training was nearly 10 years ago. My friend and I were pretty awesome at push-ups, so we wanted to see if we could do 17 push-ups every minute on the minute for one hour.
Orjust over 1,000 push-ups in 60 minutes!
We didn’t get there 🙂
Anyway, that is what I call cute training. Training that may be cool, challenging, and with some benefitbut doesn’t truly serve a greater purpose in the progression of an athlete toward an ultimate goal.
When presented with these types of ideas for training you can just say, “Aww, that’s cuteâ€.
With that mentality many think EMOM training is only good for disciplining an athlete with set rest times, skill development work, etc.
But the biggest problem with EMOM training is the RANDOMNESS!!!
And that’s is where the point is being missed.
Until you pair EMOM training with linear progression, or even in conjugate training waves, you won’t know how much an EMOM scheme can truly impact your training.
EMOM: Finding the Target
Forget “cute trainingâ€
Let’s talk EMOMs and strength.
FirstPIZZA!
If I told you you had to eat an entire pizza in one houryou could probably do it, right?
Easy.
If I told you you had to eat one slice of pizza every minute on the minute until the pizza was goneyour pizza-eating intensity just got taken up a notch, right?
You might even fail at pizza-eating.
Or
To win; you will have to learn how to chew more efficiently and faster. You’ll learn the best place to start with pizza (fold it in half, start with the curst, etc.). Your body will adapt to being able to handle 1,000’s of calories in a short amount of time. In the end, you will get pretty damn good at eating pizza.
Replace pizza with squatting, volume and intensity and it all applies.
Keep that in mind when you think all methods of training are the same.
They’re not.
EMOM training is not magical. In fact, studies show it isn’t ideal for hypertrophy (bodybuilding).
But it is great for athletes (stronger. faster. hard to kill.)
Studies show that the hormonal response with EMOM-style training will produce a greater production of growth hormone (and other anabolic hormone concentrations) compared to resting two plus minutes between strength training sets.
This idea, while NOT the exact same, is also well documented as EDT, or Escalating Density Training by Charles Staley.
All I’m trying to get at here; it’s not a theory. This type of training works.
And it works REALLY well with strength training.
Target acquired.
Now, engage.
EMOM: Hitting the Target
Linear progression and EMOM Training is the “secret sauce†behind why our One Man One Barbell program works so well.
First, Linear Progression. You have to know what this isand you do, trust me.
It’s a cool term that literally EVERYONE knows about, even if you don’t know about it.
I’ll prove it.
Answer this:
- If you lifted 5 lb this week and you want to get stronger, should you lift 5lb again next week, or should you try to lift 6 lb??
If you answered 6 lb, then you are right AND you know EXACTLY what linear progression is.
NOW, take that idea and apply it to EMOM training.
Complete 3, 6, or 12-week training waves with adding more weight on the bar each week but vary the sets (time), reps and percentages of your lifts.
It would take an entirely different article to talk about optimal reps, sets and percents. Which I’ve kind of already written about in my, “Should You Squat Every Day†Article.
If I were talking about “Cute Training†I’d give you a SINGULAR sample EMOM training workout here
How on earth would one workout benefit you???
I’m talking about using EMOM Training for lasting gains!
So instead, I’ll give you one week.
One week won’t change your life, but
One week will help you understand the difference between our strength program, One Man One Barbell, and every other strength program out there.
Or at least help you understand how YOU can implement EMOM training for yourself; with or without the use of my program.
This is your first week of Version OMOB:
EXAMPLE WEEK:
Squat (Day 1)
Week 1
- 4 reps @ 60%
- 4 reps @ 70%
- 4 reps @ 75%
- 4 reps @ 85%
- Short rest, then 4 reps EVERY MINUTE ON THE MINUTE for 10 minutes @ 60%.
(NOTE: Want The Ultimate EMOM Training System? Use our free workouts and proven methods to create minimal-equipment, highly-efficient training and results. Get access here.)
Repeat this pattern for each lift you do in a week.
You’ll probably be sore. It’s ok.
Now, go hit the target with EMOM Training and report back to me! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
To becoming better,
Jerred
Escalating Density Training, Staley C. Muscle Logic: Escalating Density Training. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Books;; 2005. Studies referred to in article: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3, Study 4 and Study 5
photo credit: via photopin (license), Dmitry Klokov 250kg Front Squat Wallpaper – All Things Gym, and minerals added for taste via photopin (license)